Legacy
by facelessman00
Summary: Death is only the beginning...
1. It Escapes You

"I am Ultimecia

A/N: Here it is.. My first solo fic! Please do read and review. I'm gonna try to keep everyone guessing for the first few chapters or so. Expect the unexpected. =-)

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LEGACY

CHAPTER ONE

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"I am Ultimecia. Time shall compress…All existence denied."

Rinoa shielded her eyes as twin spears of luminous ethereal energy erupted outward from what constituted the head of the speaking monstrosity before her. When the light finally dissipated, the darkness seemed oppressive. There didn't seem to be anything else in the sprawling vortex; just Rinoa, her companions, and the enormous creature claiming to be Ultimecia. Suddenly it raised its clawed hands and a pillar of flames descended around her friends, bringing them to their knees. Her nerve endings became alight with pain as she too fell to the floor, gnashing her teeth and struggling not to succumb to the intense agony of the assault.

"C…curaga," Rinoa hissed out, feeling a warm and comforting sensation envelope her. The others weren't so fortunate, she noted. Quistis gave one last gasp before going limp, her whip clattering to the floor. Before anyone could react a cherub appeared out of thin air; a stark and almost laughable contrast to the ghastly atmosphere. Rinoa tried to scream but no sound emerged. She could tell what was about to occur before the angelic figure could even wave its wand, had seen the results of its arrival twice before; when Zell had fallen, battling Ultimecia in her palace, and when Selphie had been defeated on the mountaintop battling Griever. Rinoa could only watch in horror as Quistis' limp body disintegrated into nothingness, becoming one with the barren vortex surrounding them.

Absorbed into time…

"NO!" The anguished cry emerged from Irvine's lips, mere paces away from where Quistis had last stood. First Zell, then *Selphie*… now Quistis. He couldn't see through the tears that streamed down his face, but that didn't stop him from firing his rifle. The sharpshooter unloaded round after round into Ultimecia's seemingly unbreakable carapace; each shot ricocheting off or losing itself in the void of her cloak.

Squall, fresh rage piled on top of his already substantial fury, lunged at Ultimecia and let loose his vicious Renzokuken combo; slashing, jabbing, leaping, swinging, slicing.

The creature groaned in what Rinoa had to assume was pain, and countered with a crippling holy magic attack. "Squall…no…" was all she could manage, watching her only love trembling in agony on the ground, hoping against hope that the damned cherub wouldn't come to claim him as well…

It was then that she noticed something odd; the monstrosity was drawing magic from a vaguely human form, wrapped upside down and entangled in the massive entity that was Ultimecia. "Drawing magic… but why? For what?" 

The entire atmosphere began to transform, and Rinoa felt an ominous feeling blossom inside of her. For a moment she expected another pillar of fire, but she soon found out this was far more malicious. Colors and shapes of so many different groupings as to defy existence danced before her eyes, as she braced herself for the pain that was to come. The writhing form of Squall caught the corner of her eye, and she reacted as soon as she could. "Shell!" A luminous pink orb materialized around Squall as the words rolled off her tongue.

And then the Doomsday hit.

Rinoa avoided the brunt of the blast, and Squall's shell had protected him. Irvine, however, was not so fortunate. Rinoa didn't even need to watch; she could hear the cherub's wings and the familiar sound of her friend disintegrating, and when she looked back, he was gone. Absorbed into time. Just like the others.

Squall felt raw energy surge through him once again, and lunged at Ultimecia a second time, brandishing his Lionheart blade and attacking for all he was worth.

"Reflect on your…childhood…"

The words came out cold and heartless, all the while Squall was pummeling away at her with his gunblade. It took Rinoa a moment to register their meaning.

"Your sensation… your words… your emotions…"

Was Ultimecia speaking to her? After all, Squall could not reflect upon his childhood, for he had no memories of it. The words conjured images of Rinoa's mother Julia… of her father George… the big mansion and the little puppy named Angelo. It all seemed so long ago, so final… Rinoa longed for things to be that way again, to be simple. She missed being carefree, she missed her mother, and her father…

"Time…it will not wait…"

This was true, Rinoa knew it. It didn't wait, it just kept traveling and leaving her in the dust…

Squall continued striking Ultimecia's ugly visage with his gunblade.

"No matter…how hard you hold on… it escapes you…"

Rinoa was becoming mesmerized by Ultimecia's words, and she slowly felt control of her actions slipping away.

"And…"

Squall's body was inexplicably repelled from Ultimecia, and he fell back to the floor.

"So does your will."

The words seemed to surprise Rinoa. As if the last bit wasn't supposed to have been spoken, as if it didn't belong.

"You can… feel it, running away…along with your sanity…"

The world seemed to blur and Rinoa shook her head to clear it, but realized the effort was futile.

"You… know what you must do…"

Rinoa's arm trembled as she raised it, leveled the blaster edge attached to her wrist, then launched it.

Watched as it severed Squall's head from his body.

***

Rinoa woke up, sweating.

She looked around in alarm, and realized everything was the way it had been when she went to sleep. A pile of Timber Maniacs was stacked on her side of the bed, the television was still in place, the LCD on its cable box giving off a dull red glow. She rolled over and felt a warm vacancy on the other side of the bed. "Squall?" 

The bathroom door opened, shedding light on the dark room and Squall walked through, a towel wrapped around his waist. Rinoa felt a wave of relief wash over her. _Thank God, he's alive. _"Morning Rin--" He paused in midsentence. "Are you ok, babe? You don't look good." 

It was then that Rinoa realized she breathing in ragged bursts. She stopped immediately, trying to calm herself. _It was just a dream… just a horrible nightmare…_"I'm fine, Squall… Fine." She seemed to be reassuring herself. To lighten the mood she stood and tip-toed over to Squall, wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing him softly. "How are _you_?"

A boyish smile tugged at the corner of Squall's lips, and his cheeks almost seemed to redden. "Good," he replied absently.

"Good," she said, nodding. "Because I'm good too." She broke away from his embrace and forced a smile. "I hosy the shower."

"You better get moving," Squall called over his shoulder after Rinoa had closed the door. "The service for Ma Dincht is in an hour and a half. We need to get down to Balamb as soon as we can."

Ma Dincht. Rinoa bit her lip as she thought about the poor woman. Her death had been unexpected, and a major blow for poor Zell. No one had seen it coming; just a massive heart attack, something that happens to people when they're old. But to Zell Ma Dincht had been all but ageless; the only mother that he truly had memories of. Rinoa had never known it possible for Zell to wear such a forlorn, lost expression. It was almost as if he was taking it worse than Pa Dincht.

Rinoa's reflection split in two as the medicine cabinet opened with a stubborn creak, and Rinoa pulled out scented lotion from behind a canister of hair gel belonging to Squall. It closed with the same eerie sound, and Rinoa's reflection came back together.

But it wasn't Rinoa's reflection.

Ultimecia stared back at her.

"N…no," Rinoa gasped.

__

"No matter how hard you hold on, it escapes you."

Rinoa began clawing at the glass, her lip trembling. "Stop it!"

__

"And… so does your will…"

"_Damn _you, witch! I don't know what you're talking about!"

__

"You can… feel it, running away… along with your sanity…"

Rinoa pulled back and punched her fist through the glass, shattering it.

__

"You… know what you must do…"

Ultimecia's final words rang through Rinoa's head as the doorknob turned and Squall rushed in, an alarmed look on his face. "Rinoa!" He flew to her side, supported her as she collapsed into his arms. Shards of glass protruded from her hand, and blood seemed to be everywhere; as if part of a cheap horror movie or something.

Rinoa did not respond for a few moments, her eyes staring vacantly off into space. _"You…know what you must do…"_

Squall began waving a hand in front of her eyes. "Rinoa?"

She shook her head, pulled from the trance. "I… must've tripped, or something," she said shakily. "It's ok, I'll pick it up--"

"Nonsense," Squall silenced her. "You go lay down, I'll see what I can do about your hand."

Rinoa obeyed, but not before turning to bathe Squall in one last stare. The words repeated themselves in her head, over and over, a twisted chant. _"You…know what you must do…" _

Suddenly it all made a grotesque kind of sense.

"Honey, do you think we'll make it to the funeral in time?" Rinoa asked weakly, seating herself on his bed.

__

// Time…. //

"Sure," came his reply as he began to clean Rinoa's injuries. "We've got plenty of _time_…"

__

// It will not wait. //

"Good." Squall wrapped a bandage around her hand and she winced; it was very tender. "I'm sorry about the mirror."

__

// No matter… //

"Don't be. These things happen." Squall gave her a kiss on the cheek before he stood and continued to get ready.

__

// How hard you hold on…//

Twenty minutes later Rinoa stood in the doorway, prepared to leave for the funeral. She gave the bathroom one last glance before ridding her mind of all thoughts relating to the visions and simply thinking of poor Zell and Pa Dincht. They were her first priority right now, not her own delusions. _And that's what they are… delusions._

It seemed so wrong that life ever had to end. 

__

// It escapes you. //

__


	2. Only the Beginning

****

LEGACY

CHAPTER TWO

The funeral was an affair of little extravagance, and Rinoa knew that was just the way Ma Dincht would have wanted it. There were very few decorations, and no choir, just one lonely organ, droning away a somber tune as Zell, his father, and a plethora of relatives Rinoa couldn't identify marched slowly down the aisle. They all held their heads low, all seemed sad and tired and distant, and Rinoa wondered if any of them were even listening to the organ. Rinoa looked around at everyone that had gathered and couldn't help but allow a wistful smile.

__

Everyone was there.

Everyone at Balamb composed a family, of sorts; especially those six that had been involved in the Ultimecia crisis one month previous. Battling side-by-side against such a destructive evil as Ultimecia and the Lunar Cry had forged an invincible bond that simply _existed_--no matter how different their personalities or attitudes or philosophies. Once again, Rinoa couldn't help but smile as she recalled President Laguna standing at the head of the _Ragnarok's _bridge, gesticulating wildly as he explained their mission. "Love, courage, and friendship people! Let's show em what we got!" Memories of Ultimecia's nightmarish future dystopia flooded back in torrents, and she had to bite her lip to bring herself back to reality. No matter how little they spoke of it or even thought of it, within their hearts all six of them knew that their love for one another was all that had sustained them when faced with Time Compression.

Squall was beside her, holding her hand gently. It wasn't like Mrs. Dincht had meant the world to Rinoa; far from it. She was just a friendly face to Rinoa, but she knew that the older woman had meant the world to Zell, and seeing him in such a state was enough to make Rinoa's eyes well up with tears. Two pews in front of them stood Irvine, Selphie leaning tiredly against him, her own eyes moist with fresh tears. Xu, Quistis, Nida, Cid, and Edea sat as a group farther down the bench that seated Squall and Rinoa, and all were still and silent. Alisha the library girl stood alone at the end of a pew, dabbing at her eyes. Seifer was at the opposite end of her pew, almost hiding in shadow, as if he felt guilty being there for Chicken-wuss.

Everyone was there.

They were all assembled in support of Zell, lending their prayers and petitions and whatever else they could offer.

--

The funeral was followed by a burial, which was in turn followed by a brief reception. All that had been present at the funeral once again showed up for the reception.

Zell was picking at the chicken dinner that had so generously been donated from the Balamb Garden cafeteria. It had been a lovely gesture, certainly-- but what he wanted more than _any_thing right now was just a goddamn hot dog.

Rinoa looked on from across the table with concerned eyes. She didn't know what to say; surprising, considering she had suffered the loss of her mother. She knew what dealing with the death of a parent was like; she had been there. But there was something different about this, and Rinoa could sense it, she just couldn't put her finger on it.

From out of the corner of her eye she could see Seifer, hunched over a nearby table and nursing a small glass of punch. There was something strange about Seifer lately-- he just seemed so quiet and reserved, a far cry from what he had been only months ago. Rinoa wondered if he was just trying to gain forgiveness for his past sins, for all of the people he had hurt and lives he had broken. Throughout the entire funeral affair Seifer had been standing discreetly along the sidelines, silently lending Zell his strength along with so many others. 

Ironic, considering he wouldn't have been caught dead at Zell's _birthday _four months ago.

"He wants forgiveness," Squall said quietly. He had noticed Rinoa's scrupulous examination of Seifer and was just beginning to speak his thoughts. "He wants redemption, he doesn't want to be disliked around here anymore."

Rinoa looked at Squall sadly and bit her lip. She couldn't deny the summer they had shared, barely a year ago; just her and Seifer. It had been so romantic, and he had been so kind and charming. That was the Seifer she was beginning to see more of, the very same Seifer she had had feelings for.

Headmaster Cid and his wife Edea were both seated beside Zell and trying their best to console him. Rinoa looked from Cid to his wife, at the way that she held onto his shoulder with such devotion. Cid was his wife's Knight, for sure, but Rinoa wondered if when push came to shove Edea would be the one protecting Cid in peril. "When I was 13 my mother died," the man was saying to Zell. "At the time I was just fully beginning to comprehend how massive a thing death was… The fact that death was _it_. The end. My mother would never draw breath again, and I would never _see _her again." He shook his head, swallowing a lump in his throat. Zell was just staring at his plate, occasionally rearranging his chicken with his fork. "But then I had a long talk with my uncle… and he told me something I would _never _forget." With that, Cid put a reassuring hand on Zell's shoulder and gripped it firmly; with the kind of strength a father passes to his son. "Do you want to know what he said?"

Zell looked up from his plate and forced the corners of his lips to curl up slightly.

"He said… 'Death is only the beginning.'" Cid paused to let his words sink in, then continued. "I was baffled at first. How could this be so? Especially after I had just come to the revelation of how _final _death was. But he explained it all to me… He explained that my mother's spirit would live on forever in the Gaia stream, and that I would one day join her. He told me that life has a definite beginning, but no middle or end. Life is infinite. And death… death is only the beginning to an eternity of life." Cid gave him a conspiratorial pat on the back and smiled warmly.

Zell stared straight ahead for a few moments, digesting the information and pondering its significance to his life. He looked down at his plate and then looked back up at Cid and Edea. "Can I have a hotdog?" he asked innocently.

***

Rinoa stalked through the corridors of Balamb Garden.

It was later in the day, and the events from the morning were still plaguing her. She felt such despair for Zell, but at the same time she couldn't deny the strange visions with Ultimecia either. As much as she deeply wanted to pass them off as delusions, she knew she couldn't. She knew that something about them had been genuine, and she had a vague idea of what it was she needed to do to find out what was going on.

But for the moment she was just frustrated. And exhausted. And hungry. Maybe she should head to the cafeteria. Squall was God-knew-where and she wanted somebody to talk to.

"You wanna see a card trick?" The sultry voice came from behind her and caused her to freeze in her tracks.

__

Irvine? She whirled around and smiled. Irvine was approaching her, fingering a stack of cards and wearing his telltale smirk. "A card trick?" Rinoa wrinkled her nose at him. "_How _old are we?"

Irvine feigned that he had been stabbed, his hands rising to clutch at his heart and his eyes bulging. "You _wound_ me!" Irvine laughed.

Rinoa giggled, but kept up the act. "Oh I just _kill _you sometimes, don't I?"

"You bet." He ran up so he was in step with her and wrapped an arm comfortably around her shoulder. "What's buggin' ya, sweets?"

Rinoa bristled, wriggling out from under his arm and smiling politely. "Uhm, what's bugging me?"

Irvine put a hand to her shoulder to halt her "I asked you a question… now, logic dictates that you would respond as accurately as possible." His eyes twinkled as he spoke.

Rinoa looked at him in wonder for a few moments before allowing a small smile to show and starting to walk again. When he put his arm around her this time she didn't shy away. "Well… lots of things, I guess."

"Like…?"

There was a small pause. Rinoa wrapped herself in a hug as she ambled along. "Well……. Things with Squall are going a little weird."

"…Whatever," Irvine said, doing a perfect imitation of the gunblade specialist's catchphrase.

Rinoa's eyes widened and a grin blossomed across her face. "Oh you! Stop it!" she laughed, playfully punching his shoulder. "No it's not like anything's going… _wrong _with us, it's just that lately he hasn't had much time for me."

Irvine nodded in understanding.

"And… well, I mean I guess that's natural, because being a SeeD commander's hard work and all, and I guess I wouldn't have it any other way. It's just…I guess, I wish we could just settle down, you know?"

Irvine raised an eyebrow. "That's a lotof 'I guess'es there, Rinni. Speak your mind for once."

Rinoa giggled and gave him a gentle kick in the shin. "I gue--… I _don't _know what else to say right now," she affirmed, clasping her hands behind her back.

Irvine gave her a doubting look. "Nothing else? Otherwise, you're fine."

"Well, I feel bad for Zell…"

Irvine smiled slightly. "Zell's a big boy. He can take care of himself. Anything _else_?"

Rinoa looked over at him and bit her lip. _Yes. _"No," she lied through her teeth. "Nothing else. Everything's… fine."

Irvine clutched at his heart again. "Rinni you're _killing _me!" he said through a jovial grin.

Rinoa allowed a giggle to escape through her lips. "And you know how much I love doing it too."

Before she could say anything more he turned and wrapped her in a big hug-- a friendly, brother-sister kind of thing-- nothing more, nothing less, and Rinoa knew it. "Well give me a call when you're ready to open up," he said jocularly, pulling back. "Until then… get some _rest_ for Hyne's sake. No offense but you look like hell."

They went their separate ways, and Rinoa headed to her room in a daze. Irvine was a good friend, she concluded; always willing to listen and help her. There was more to him than most girls gave him credit for. 

When she was finally standing at the foot of her bed, it seemed so inviting. She hadn't slept soundly at all the previous night, so Irvine was right; she _did _look like hell.

She was asleep before she hit the mattress.

***

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Rinoa stalked through the corridors of Balamb Garden.

****

"You can feel it…running away… along with your sanity."

*flash*

****

"You…know what you must do…"

Suddenly Irvine was there by her side. He was clutching at his heart, his eyes wide. "You're killing _me, Rinni!" he gasped. He pulled his hands away from his heart and allowed Rinoa to see the blossoming flower of blood as it seeped through the fabric of his vest and stained the floor._

She looked down at her hand, at the dagger that was poised in her grasp, at the tip that was stained scarlet…….

"Rinoa! Rinoa!"

***

"Rinoa… Rinoa…" Squall was whispering to her, trying to bring her back to consciousness.

She sat bolt upright, a scream rising to her lips. She suppressed it before it could emerge, and Squall put a finger to her lips, trying to whisper soothing things but being drowned out by Rinoa's ragged breathing. "Honey what's wrong?"

Rinoa put a hand to her forehead and shut her eyes. "It was… another nightmare. That's all, I'm ok…"

Squall's eyebrows grew together in concern. "_Another_ nightmare?"

"I _said _I'm ok!" Rinoa said through clenched teeth, her voice almost a growl. It was obvious something was wrong; Squall had never seen her in such a state. She sighed deeply, wiping perspiration from her brow. "What time is it?" she asked, beginning to look around. Her eyes weren't focused enough to read the figures on the clock yet.

"It's… uh… about 4 o'clock. I heard the news and instantly just wanted to be with you… I just can't believe it." Squall swallowed a lump in his throat and stared off into space, his eyes unfocused and sad.

Suddenly Rinoa felt sick. "News?"

Squall looked at her in wonder. "Oh, you wouldn't have known, would you? You've been sleeping…"

She sat up, feeling terror grip her. "What?! What happened?"

Squall's despairing eyes met hers. "Headmaster Cid has been murdered."

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	3. Together?

A/N: Well I resurrected this fic cause I thought it had potential. Nearly this entire chapter was the result of a very late night so apologize if it's bad. J Thanks to Becky and Mandy for help with Zell's scene.

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LEGACY

CHAPTER 3

It had been a typical day.

For Nida, a typical day was nothing spectacular. He had gotten up, showered, brushed his teeth; conducted all of the mundane everyday rituals that everyone grows so accustomed to. He had attended the funeral for Zell's mother, and then the reception. Cid had been there; Cid, and his wife Edea, and Xu, who collectively seemed to be the only members of the Garden faculty that acknowledged his existence. So he had sat with them.

It was amazing to see Cid and Edea together. Almost 20 years of marriage, and they still seemed to be just as much in love as they had been when they said their wedding vows. Edea was such an incredible person herself; a stunning blend of beauty and uncanny intelligence, tempered by a characteristic warmth that she conveyed to nearly everyone she came in contact with. There wasn't a human being who had met her that didn't take notice of her genuine smile. Cid was the same way. Nida wondered idly if he was the only person to make such an observation.

Cid and Nida made arrangements to meet for dinner at six o'clock. Nida smiled at the prospect, as he and the old man hadn't spoken in a long while. Over the course of the past year, Cid had become a kind of surrogate father to Nida, not to mention a much-needed close friend and confidante. Dinner sounded like a wonderful idea; finally, an opportunity for them to catch up.

Six-thirty rolled around, and Nida was still waiting for his Headmaster to show up. So he decided to check on him in his office. It was a well-known fact that Cid Kramer was not the most conscious man on the campus-- many even dared to call him oblivious--so it was perfectly understandable that he had perhaps gotten caught up with his work or with someone else and had forgotten all about his dinner plans. This didn't phase Nida at all. He could handle that. A year with Cid had prepared him for that.

And yet, Nida was not prepared for the sight he encountered in Cid's office.

Cid was dead.

He was just lying there, arms splayed across the floor, an expression of horror permanently embedded in his features. Scarlet blood stained his clothes and the formerly off-white carpet below him, creating a ghastly scene, one that not even a year in SeeD had prepared Nida for.

That's when Nida noticed he wasn't alone in the room. Knelt beside Cid was his wife, Edea, her face stricken with a look of shock and stark horror. Tears fell from her eyes and to the floor-- to her husband's corpse. To his shirt-- his good dress shirt, now soaked through with blood. It was the same one he worn just earlier that day, and on numerous formal occasions in the past. Like the SeeD Graduation Ball, back when Nida had first become a SeeD. Back when the world had been pregnant with hope and Cid had started taking him under his wing. When Cid would come up to him everyday and _smile_, just smile, a friendly, honest smile… and offer support. And they would talk, and Nida would feel like he was the most important person in the world.

But now he was gone.

Nida's hazel eyes met Edea's cloudy yellow ones, and then watched as they rolled back into her head. He sprang forward as she fainted in his arms.

He looked down-- at Edea, limp in his arms, and Cid's lifeless body on the floor-- and felt something expand in his chest; a burgeoning seed of despair, and anger… a sensation that until now had been foreign to him. He cried out in anguish as the tears began to flow…

~~~

The world was passing by in slow motion as Rinoa walked to the infirmary. She felt disconnected, distant-- as if the world around her existed, but was miles away, and therefore impossible for her to get a solid grip on. Squall was there-- beside her-- silent, just holding her, a grim expression chiseled across his features. But to her he might as well have been a million miles away.

"You ok, hon?" he whispered, his lips brushing against her ear.

His words held no meaning to her. They passed through her as if they were nothing, a silent blip on the radar screen of her mind.

She continued walking, silent, her blank eyes staring at everything and nothing; the world as it existed, and the world as she saw it. And right now all she saw was a blur.

The infirmary was strangely silent as Squall and Rinoa entered. For the first time in several minutes the world came into focus for Rinoa, but the sickening feeling in the pit of her stomach lingered like a parasite.

And there stood Dr. Kadowaki, beside the cot on which Edea Kramer was lying, eyes closed. Nida was sitting leaning up against the wall, his knees pulled up to his chest, his face flushed a bright red and streaked with tears.

"H-how is she doctor?" Squall asked. "Why … is she…?"

The pudgy woman shook her head sadly, taking a moment to glance down at her clipboard and scribbling down a few notes to herself. "She's been like this for an hour and a half. Nida found her in shock by Cid's side and watched as she fell unconscious. Then he brought her here." She paused, tapping her pen against her lip thoughtfully as he eyes trailed over Edea's still body. "She's in a bizarre kind of coma. I would usually just knock it off as normal-- after all, she did just witness her husband get murdered before her eyes. She's in shock, and comas do result from that…"

"So what's different this time?" Now it was Irvine's voice, as he strode into the room with a kind of ease that would cause one to question if a person had just indeed died. But while his presence remained impressive, his confused and tragic eyes betrayed his true emotions.

"Well…" She paused, making eye contact with everyone assembled. "I think she's willing herself into the coma."

Squall seemed perplexed. "I- I don't understand," he said, quietly.

Dr. Kadowaki continued. "At one point about fifteen minutes ago she seemed to be pulling out of it; showing all the casual signs of consciousness. But then I noticed her whispering what sounded like the words to a spell and before I knew it she was out cold again."

The doctor's words were a distant blur to Rinoa, as she gazed blankly upon Edea's unconscious form. She thought of Cid's corpse, laid grotesquely across the floor of his office, and then of Edea. She thought of her dreams, of Ultimecia.

**__**

"Your will…You can feel it, slipping away… along with your sanity."

The dream. All those simple, terrifying words. And now this.

__

I did it all. The horrible realization washed over her like a breaking wave in a storm, causing her to tumble in its intensity. _I killed the Headmaster. I brought her into this helpless state. It's all my fault._

"…she want to do that?" Rinoa was forced back to reality by Squall's voice, as she heard the last words of his query.

"Why would she want to do that, Mr. Leonheart?" Dr. Kadowaki stopped speaking altogether. She looked from Nida, to Edea, and then back over to Irvine. "She doesn't _want _to wake up," she concluded finally. "She doesn't want to return to a world where her husband has been murdered, and… " Her voice began to tremble. "… I don't blame her."

"Why would anyone try to kill our Headmaster in the first place?" Irvine asked, tossing the previous issue aside. 

A tear glistened in the doctor's eye, but she bit her lip and forced the emotions away. "I don't know… I just don't know."

It was all she could say. It was all anyone could say in the face of such a horrible, inexplicable tragedy. No one could possibly comprehend the truth…

Except Rinoa.

~~~

The gym seemed uncharacteristically quiet. Even late in the evening, SeeDs usually busied themselves with intense exercise routines to keep themselves conditioned and ready for the occasional surprise mission thrown at them. _ Be prepared_. It was an anthem to them.

It was a saying that the late Headmaster Cid had used over and over again.

Needless to say, very few SeeDs felt like being prepared this night. Everything they did seemed to remind them of their headmaster, as if he was still there with them.

Zell was the only one present, losing himself in the one stable thing in his life; his martial arts. The lights were dim and the temperature was just right, and for the first time in days, he felt centered.

__

Kataa, inward block, knife hand--

The world seemed to melt away as he performed the routine with uncanny precision.

__

Outward block, left palm strike--

His mind conjured an image of Mrs. Dincht's casket; the only mother he had ever known. _Stop thinking. Just feel._

Step back, right inward block, step back, left inward block--

And there was Cid. Cid who had been the only person to try to comfort him in his sorrow. But now he was gone too. _Shut up, dammit! Stop thinking!_

C-step, outward block, outward block--

He performed the moves without thinking. His training had become as much a part of him as breathing. But Cid wasn't breathing anymore. And neither was his mother.

__

C-step, inward block, knife hand--

Why? Why was all this happening? How cruel was fate to allow two of the most important people in Zell's life to die? What had _they_ done to deserve death? Why?

__

Forward step, jump-front kick--

It was unjust. They shouldn't have died. Why did they die? _Why does everyone close to me die? Why?!_

"WHY?!" he shouted out loud, furiously attacking a suspended punching bag. "Dammit!" he choked out, as tears brimmed in his eyes. 

__

Spinning sidekick, spinning hook kick--

Each kick held more fury than the last. A vicious leaping 360 hook kick ripped the punching bag from its hinges and sent it sailing across the floor to crash into the wall.

Zell slumped down, punching the floor, his body wracked with sobs. "Dammit…" he whispered, a sound that seemed to echo in his ears and travel through his body. He felt slightly sick, like there was something caught in his throat. The slight pain it caused seemed to increase with every sob that escaped him, until he was literally choking.

Suddenly he felt a nearby presence; someone's embrace. He felt her hand gently pat his trembling back, her other clutching his shoulder. He turned his head and looked into striking hazel eyes and silky blonde hair, creamy-white skin and a sad, somber expression. "Qu… Quistis," Zell choked out, messily swiping at his tears with his gloved hands. He hurried to pull himself up, shaking his head. "I.. I'm sorry, I'm ok, I--" 

Quistis Trepe's expression didn't change. "Zell… It's okay." She began to speak; gentle words to soothe the upset teenager. "We're all grieving. We're all grieving with you."

"I - I know that--"

"Cid… You know how much Cid meant to me, to all of us. No one can put into words what the man has done. And your mother meant the _world_ to me, Zell. You _loved_ her, and she loved you more than you could imagine. She still does, Zell. She's still alive, if only in spirit. So is Cid. Remember what he said?"

Zell stopped trying to speak and succumbed to his emotions, wrapping his arms around her and burying his tear-streaked face into her shoulder. "Thank you," was all Zell could say. Several moments passed before he let go of his former instructor and stood along with her.

He turned around and almost fell back to the floor again.

"Seifer?" Zell gaped; how long had it been since they had seen one another? And how long ago still had it been on friendly terms? But still, there he was, standing tall in his favorite white jacket, the old scar across his forehead reflected clearly in the lighting of the gym. "Seifer," he repeated, this time nodding his head in acknowledgement.

Seifer nodded likewise. "Chickenw-- Zell," he amended quickly.

There was an awkward silence, and it wasn't until Quistis walked over to stand beside Seifer that Zell realized he was here with her. _So that means Seifer saw my whole breakdown?_ And yet, for some reason, Seifer didn't seem to care. Months ago he would have reveled in the fact that he had witnessed his favorite Chicken-Wuss become a blubbering mess of tears and sobs. But now he just seemed… sympathetic, friendly… honest? _Huh._

"Um…Well…. I hate to say it but I feel like crap," Seifer said, scratching the back of his head, blushing slightly. He seemed to be desperately seeking a way out of the situation. "I should…be getting to bed. It's late."

"It's been a long day," Quistis agreed. It was such an obvious statement, for sure, but it seemed like the right thing to say at the time.

Seifer nodded. "I had a good night, instructor. Thank you for listening."

Zell's sorrows were momentarily pushed aside for this momentous event. Was Seifer being… civil?

Quistis shook her head and playfully fixed his collar. "I'm not your instructor anymore. I'm Quistis."

A boyish smile tugged at the corners of Seifer's lips. "Quistis." He said the name slowly, as if he were rolling it around on his tongue, testing it for sweetness. "So Quistis, are we still on for breakfast?"

Quistis leaned over and brushed her lips against his cheek.

"I take that as a yes?" 

He grinned, and suddenly the world seemed full of promise. Seifer; the introvert, the badass, the one that no one liked… was happy. Zell couldn't help but grin too, watching as the face of one who had once been his archrival transformed so.

"Yes," she answered, a slight giggle escaping her lips.

"Then I will see you then," he said, his eyes smiling. And then he left.

She stared after him wistfully. 

Zell was dumbfounded. "You and Seifer--?!" he began.

"No," she said simply, turning her eyes on him warningly. "No. We're friends."

"Sure," he joked, and laughed. And it felt good; to still be able to function and be friendly. He would miss his mother and Cid terribly, but life always went on. And seeing Seifer in such a changed state was an inspiration. If Seifer could pick himself up, anybody could. "He's changed," Zell remarked, turning to regard Quistis.

Her lips curled in a slight smile as she looked down at her feet. "He has." The words, and the way she in which she spoke them, were enough for Zell. Seifer Almasy meant much to Quistis; just how much remained to be seen.

"I'm going to bed too Zell." She turned and wrapped him in another hug. "We'll all get through this. Together."

He simply nodded, and smiled at her as she left. _Together_. The word rang in his mind, like a chant. She was right. She, Zell, Irvine, Selphie, Rinoa, and Squall… They were a family. Their strong bonds had kept them alive in a time-compressed world; certainly they would survive this.

"Together," he said, satisfied, as he too left the gym for his dorm.

~~~

__

I killed him.

The words reverberated in her head; an endless, haunting litany. But how? And why? What were all of the terrifying dreams, the visions? How had they caused her to react in such a manner?

Rinoa had left the infirmary in a hurry, trying to simply distance herself from everything relating to the situation at hand. _That's it,_ she concluded grimly. _I need distance. I need to get away from here… from everyone._ She thought of Zell's forlorn expression, Irvine's friendly face… Squall; oh Hyne, she loved everything about him. She didn't _want _to leave him, or any of them. Would she be able to cope without them?

But she had to. Tonight she would sleep, and then she would dream, and she would wake up having committed another murder. What if this time it was Zell? Or Irvine? Or Hyne help her, Squall?

__

No. She forced the thought from her mind, but it did nothing to dispel the storm of emotions raging inside of her.

"Hi Rinni," Irvine's voice startled her, as it had earlier in the day. But this morning it had been jubilant, jocular; now it was … tired, worn, and lacking any form of emotion.

She jumped. "H-hi Irvy," she managed, swallowing a lump in her throat as her eyes turned to meet his. He had pulled the ponytail out so his hair fell gratefully behind his shoulders. 

"Don't be so startled." He smirked, attempting to inject some humor into the bleakness of the day. "You look you've just seen a--" He stopped himself, as he decided that this was most likely not the best choice of words at the moment. "You look frightened," he amended.

But she didn't hear him. All she could hear were the whispers.

__

"You… know what you must do…"

The nightmare, it was coming back to her. The image of a bloodied, broken Irvine Kinneas superimposed itself over the man standing before her. "You're _killing _me, Rinni," he was saying again. 

__

"Kill him…" These voices were new to Rinoa. But their source was clear. They were the voice of Madness. They were the voice of Ultimecia. _"Kill him… impale… stab… iccceee striiiike…"_

"No," she said, tears brimming in her eyes. 

__

"Stab… kill… impale…" 

"NO!" she repeated, firmly. The images dissipated, until all she could see was the concerned, confused face of Irvine.

"You alright, Rinni? Rinoa?"

His words didn't register. The world was again a blur. "I… need…" Rinoa clutched her head, her fingers massaging her temples.

Heat. Her temples burned. What was this sudden sensation? "I need to…" It began on her face, but then spread to her bosom, her hips, legs. A searing pain, unrelenting in its intensity, it cut to her very essence. Her lips opened in a tortured scream, but no sound emerged. Oh Hyne it _hurt_.

"I need to get _out_!" she screamed, throwing back her head and releasing a kinetic blast that knocked everyone within a 10-foot radius to their knees.

Irvine reached instinctively for his holsters, but stopped short.

The burning ceased. The sharp impulses of pain surging through her body were now nothing but a memory.

She looked around and exhaled heavily, watching all of the confused and frightened students as they stood from the floor and made hasty retreat.

But then it started. _"Your will… you can feel it… running away…"_

Rinoa's fists suddenly clenched themselves. She hadn't done that, had she? She hadn't had any conscious thought or impulse to do that…

__

"Your **will**…"

Everything in her nightmares had suddenly taken on a new meaning.

"Irvine…" she spoke, barely above a whisper.

Irvine leaned in toward her, breathing slowly and deeply himself. "What, Rinoa? Tell me what's wrong…"

Rinoa trembled, and tears came to her eyes. "Run. Now." Her hands began to shake, her fingertips surging with ethereal energy.

Irvine began slowly backing away, stark terror finally taking hold. Something was wrong… very, very wrong. "W-why, Rinni?" 

She raised her eyes to his, and he was taken aback by the look of fear they still possessed. "If you don't run, Irvine," she said slowly, her voice trembling, "I'm going to kill you."


	4. Duel

****

LEGACY

CHAPTER 4

Squall wouldn't have expected the cafeteria to meet its capacity at 9 o'clock at night. But apparently this was the meeting place of choice for the confused, grieving, and frightened SeeDs and students. One would think that they would be secreted away in their dorms, quietly grieving to themselves or hiding from whatever evil had committed a murder earlier that day. But no, they were all assembled in the cafeteria, in the name of their late Headmaster. Squall wondered idly how long this vigil would last until, and then decided he would just as soon jump in a pit full of bite bugs than remain in attendance. He had never dealt well with death or loss of any kind in the past, and now was no different.

No, he would leave, and return to his dorm. He hoped Rinoa would join him, give him the companionship that he so desperately needed right now. _Rinoa… Thank Hyne for you_. Life was complicated, but Rinoa was always there. It was as if she were Squall's crutch, in a way. She added much-needed stability to his life; she was his sanity. It was thanks to her that he had begun to allow others into his life in the first place. 

Hyne, he loved her to death. _I wonder if she knows_, he wondered. Neither of them had ever truly voiced their affection; they simply possessed a tacit understanding, and that was enough. The emotional rapport forged between the two had been strong enough to span the time-space continuum, to save one another from being trapped in the Time Compression distortions forever. They had barely just met, and yet they knew and understood eachother more than anyone else in the world.

They talked, often. Squall wasn't used to having a close friend and confidante, so it took him time to begin to open up. But finally he did, and truthfully he had never been happier. Sometimes she would visit him at night, and they would lay together; talking about life, the future, _their_ future. She often even fell asleep, in his arms. They had never done anything physical, excluding the occasional brush of lips, and Squall was pleased with this. They were merely friends; very special friends, to be sure.

Squall felt his knees weaken as he turned the corner. 

He felt all of his remaining stability begin to slip away.

__

Ultimecia. That was the only name that seemed to make sense as Squall watched Rinoa viciously attacking Irvine Kinneas. He looked on, horrified, as she hurled spell after devastating spell at him; the gunslinger just barely able to compensate with a quick string of protect, shell, and regen enchantments. Every few seconds he'd instinctively reach for his holsters, but then stop himself.

Hundreds of questions thundered across his mind. Why was she doing this? Was she being possessed again? And if so, _who_ was alive to possess her? Rinoa was the sorceress; there were no others. Were there? 

__

Ultimecia.

The name flashed across his mind again. But she was dead. He had struck the final blow. He had seen her hideous face disintegrate along with the rest of her monstrous form. He had watched the dying sorceress as she passed her powers onto Matron. She couldn't be doing this.

__

*flash*

"Do you want to know what he said?" Cid was saying to Zell. "He said… death is only the beginning."

*flash*

"He told me that life has a definite beginning, but no middle or end. Life is infinite. And death… death is only the beginning to an eternity of life."

*flash*

The memory from earlier in the morning was still fresh in Squall's mind.

"Shit," Squall said.

~~~

Rinoa was a passenger in her own body. She watched in horror as she cast spell after spell on helpless Irvine, who seemed hesitant to strike back. 'Irvine just stop me!' Rinoa mentally pleaded. 'Kill me if you have to! Strike me down!'

But her thoughts could not be given voice, for she no longer had a voice of her own. She could do nothing but passively succumb to Ultimecia's manipulation. _But this is somehow different from that first time… _She could not recall much of her episode in the Estharian Space Station, but all the same she could sense that far more was happening here than mere possession…

"Firaga." No sooner had the spell escaped her lips when a current of flame surged across the Garden's tile toward her victim and connected with explosive impact, shattering another of Irvine's Shells into hundreds of pink shards.

"W- what are you doing Rinni?" Irvine shouted as he dove away from a Blizzara ice spike stabbing the air. He didn't expect an answer, however, and both of them knew it. He understood what was going on, he just didn't want to admit it.

Her onslaught of attacks continued. "Flare," she said, and her eyes widened in fear as she realized that Irvine might not be able to escape this one. At the last second he cast Haste on himself and ran for all he was worth, the devastating spell leaving a crater in the floor where he had been standing seconds before.

"Stop this, Rinoa! I know you're in there somewhere!"

Irvine's words of encouragement fell on deaf ears. 

"Ultima," Rinoa said tonelessly.

~~~

Irvine felt the color drain from his cheeks as the temperature all around him rapidly decreased and the air grew darker. He was well aware of the chaos an Ultima spell would create inside the Garden, but how much could he do now? A regular elemental spell could be countered or halted with a Shell… but this, this was a different story…

"Everyone clear the area!" Irvine frantically shouted, cupping his hands around his mouth. He had only seconds to wonder if the junior class men were safe before he was suddenly bathed in the spell's lurid green glow, a conglomerate of energy developing right before his eyes--

His sudden dive was barely enough. The energy orb detonated with the force of a large bomb, sending shockwaves in every direction and incinerating Irvine's trenchcoat. The force sent him careening into a wall, his body crumpling as it made impact. His eyes widened as he saw chunks of the central pillar shatter and tumble to the watery reservoir below. 'She's damaged the elevator!'

He closed his eyes to tap into his GF, when he realized that he was completely out of defensive spells. _Shit._ The only thing he could do now was draw-cast something from Rinoa. He extended a hand and concentrated, using her recovery time from conjuring such a massive spell as an opportunity to tap into her cache of spells.

__

Bio? No… too risky. Ultima? Hell no. Dispel? Nothing to dispel. Stop?

Stop.

It was so obvious that he chastised himself for not thinking of it sooner. _C'mon Irvy think fast,_ he thought, as he concentrated on drawing it from her and then casting it instantly. Trails of energy emerged from her body and found their way into Irvine- he felt a tingle as they made contact with him. "Stop," he whispered.

"Reflect." Rinoa reacted instantly, and Irvine felt his blood literally run cold as his own spell was sent back at him.

Rinoa walked slowly toward Irvine, whose terrified eyes could do nothing but watch…

~~~

"RINOA!" Squall's tortured cry reverberated off of the Garden walls, causing her to stop in her tracks and turn. _No,_ was all Rinoa could think. _Not him, not here. Oh Hyne, please don't make me do this…_ she pleaded mentally.

Their eyes met, and it was like water spilling over an electric current.

Her body was seized with a string of convulsions, and her knees buckled. She fell to the battle-ravaged floor, clutching her head in her hands, the air around her crackling with energy. _"Squall…" _her voice entered his thoughts, detached and distorted. _"Ultimecia… her last words… she… I…" _As the energy surrounding her grew in intensity she stood. Her eyelids snapped open, revealing eyes now colored with stark madness. _"I'll kill you all," _she finished, her words echoing in Squall's mind.

And just as soon as she made this proclamation, the energy began to fade, and color returned to her eyes.

She was regaining control.

Shaking her head, she regarded Squall from where she stood, and decided that this distance wasn't enough. _I need to get out of here. Now._ She swallowed hard, not willing to leave Squall yet knowing that she had to. She had no idea how long she would able to maintain this tenuous grip on sanity, on her own will.

__

"I love you." Though the words hadn't been spoken, Squall could hear them just the same. They telepathically washed over him like a wave; all of the emotion behind them seeping into his every pore and reaching into his very essence.

Their eyes met once more. _How I love your peaceful eyes on me… _Rinoa thought, though the moment was fleeting. 

She felt her will begin to once again slip away from her… She knew that if she were to remain present any longer she would kill him, and Irvine. Choking back the tears that threatened to come, she turned to the exit and ran. 

With every fading ounce of willpower she possessed.


	5. The Morning After

****

LEGACY

CHAPTER FIVE

"So, she just randomly _attacked_ you?" Zell was having difficulty digesting Irvine's information.

Irvine held up his hand in a halting gesture. "I'm getting to that."

"I don't _care_. I wanna know why she attacked you!"

"I'm still trying to figure that out. Let me finish."

Zell's eyes trailed over the debris left from Rinioa's Ultima spell. "She attacked you, and she-- she practically destroyed the central elevator…"

"Let me _finish_, dammit."

Zell glared at him angrily. "Don't talk to me like that. Bastard."

"Chicken-wuss." Irvine's lips curled into a sardonic smirk.

Zell's eyebrows drew together in a rage. "What did you call me?!" He lunged for Irvine and grabbed at his collar.

"Boys." Quistis stepped between the two and forcefully shoved Zell off of Irvine. "Knock. It. Off." Her cold steel gaze cut through Zell and, as she turned, proceeded to slice Irvine into pieces. "We're all uptight right now. We can't afford this." Zell heaved a sigh and Irvine let his eyes wander to the ceiling. "Let me remind you we're all in this together. We need to _support_ one another, not bicker like children."

At this Zell raised his head, nodding affirmingly. He was obviously thinking of his encounter with Quistis in the training center earlier that evening- her deeply affecting words from then now trickling into his thoughts. "Sorry Irv," he said, extending a hand.

"It's cool," the gunslinger said, his eyes meeting Zell's.

"We gotta stick together, guys," Selphie said as she stepped forward and punched a fist triumphantly into the air. "Peace! And love" Everyone chuckled.

But things remained serious. "So like I was saying," Irvine began, "we were just talking like normal, when she just… well… " He shook his head as words failed him. "… transformed. She was having some kind of internal struggle… and then she told me to… to run… Because, she was about to kill me… and then…" He swallowed hard and looked at the floor. "It doesn't make any sense."

"What happened then?" Selphie urged him on; a newcomer to the conversation.

"We fought. Or rather, she attacked me, and I defended myself. I couldn't bring myself to do battle with her. After a little while it seemed my luck had run out… but then Squall came, and she flipped out. Had a regular spaz-attack. And then she ran outta the Garden."

"And Squall followed," Quistis provided grimly, her arms folded across her chest.

"Damn," Zell muttered, scratching the back of his neck.

The group was silent. They were all too deep in thought… drowning in all of these seemingly disparate--yet all devastating-- events. What was happening? Their family was falling apart.

"If anyone can get her back to normal, Squally can," Selphie offered, breaking the silence.

"I hope you're right, Selphie," Quistis said gravely. "I truly hope you're right."

~~~~

Evening turned to night, and despite the chaotic state it was in, Balamb Garden slept. 

Zell insisted on keeping a constant watch for Squall and Rinoa's return but Quistis firmly exhorted against this, reminding him that he needed sleep now more than ever in his agitated mental state. Begrudgingly he obeyed, though not without giving her a speech about abandoning their own. 

Zell's words affected Quistis more than she wanted to admit, but she knew inside that there was nothing they could do right now. "Perhaps we can visit Dr. Odine tomorrow. He'll have a solution," she had said coolly. 

Zell seemed satisfied at this and before long they were all alone in their dormitories. Whether they were sleeping was another matter entirely, but they were all attempting to calm themselves in their own way.

Quistis sat up in bed, glassy-eyed, as she brooded over the discordant chain of events that was her life. They wouldn't let her have her instructor's license back, those Faculty bastards. After saving the world -- nay, the balance of the space-time continuum-- she thought it would be basic courtesy for them to let her have her old position. She had certainly deserved it. _And dammit, I _am _a good leader_. 

It didn't matter what the Faculty seemed to think, but Quistis demanded respect. She was a strong, proud, and intelligent--not to mention beautiful-- woman. Everyone listened to what she had to say, and without argument. She smiled at the memory of the look on Irvine's face as she layed into he and Zell's behavior earlier.

And then there was the issue of Seifer. Where did she stand with him? They were meeting for breakfast tomorrow. But that was it.. wasn't it? 

They had always possessed a degree of respect for each other, and a tacit understanding of this respect. Seifer's precipitate actions at Timber had been uncalled for, certainly… and yet, she had wanted nothing more than to accompany him. She could repeat over and over in her head that Seifer had been her responsibility, and it had been her duty to follow him. But that would have been a lie.

She thought of Cid, and then bit her lip to force the entire issue from her mind. If she was to relax at all tonight, she knew she would have to simply detach herself from everything that was going on. Close her mind to Cid, to Zell's sorrow, to Rinoa's episode and Squall's pursuit….

But she knew she couldn't. Every single one of the people involved in this meant the world to her. They were her family, she loved them. The thought of enduring another day knowing that Cid had been murdered, wondering who had killed him, tempering the rage that filled her… fearing for Rinoa, fearing for Squall…

"Screw it," she said finally, and cast Sleep on herself.

~~~~

The first rays of dawn were just starting to trickle across the sky when he returned-- beaten, broken, and exhausted. He walked as if he carried a tremendous burden on his shoulders; slowly, deliberately. He leaned on every elevated surface he came in contact with, before his knees buckled and he collapsed onto the cold tile floor of the Garden, barely conscious.

Nida had intended for this day to be typical. He insisted that it would not be interrupted by anything horrendous like the day before. He certainly wasn't expecting a worn and weary Squall Leonheart to fall in his path while he was on his morning jog. 

But then, he had grown accustomed to unexpected happenings.

~~~~

"So this is how you found him?" Irvine addressed Nida as they stood at the foot of Squall's cot in the infirmary. Selphie and Quistis were present as well.

Nida nodded wordlessly, his face adopting a solemn expression.

"He'll be fine," Dr. Kadowaki affirmed as she entered from the main office. "It's just a combination of emotional stress and fatigue. He'll be ok."

"That's… good," Selphie said awkwardly.

"Yes, it is," Quistis parroted.

There was nothing to say.

"I'm… meeting Seifer for breakfast," Quistis' velvety voice interrupted the silence. "But I'll return to check on him. Soon." She exchanged embraces with Selphie and Irvine and walked out the door, stopping to peek into Matron's room on the way out. A brief smile tugged at her lips at the sight; Zell seated in a chair beside the comatose woman's cot, chatting up a storm. 

For a moment Zell stopped speaking, and both of them seemed to take this moment to really look at her. She seemed so… fragile, and old-- her raven black hair that extended to her waist, cascading over the covers and contrasting sharply with her pale flesh. "Zell?" Quistis spoke his name softly.

The youth looked up at Quistis as if he had been burned, and tried desperately to hide what he had just been doing. "Quistis! Hi! I was, uh…"

"She can probably hear us, you know," she interrupted him, as she positioned herself next to the cot. "On some conscious level, she's listening to every word we say."

Zell hesitated a moment, but then allowed a boyish smile. "I know. That's why I'm giving her a rundown of everything that's going on… She's always been a good listener. You know?"

Quistis brushed away a tear. "I know." She gave his shoulder a firm squeeze before heading out the door.

Irvine and Selphie were still with Squall, a sort of oppressive silence pervading the room. Irvine began pacing and Selphie sat herself in a chair, hugging her knees to her chest and gently rocking back and forth. Back and forth, back and forth, back and forth…

Irvine viciously kicked a wastebasket into the air and sent it tumbling into a stack of bandages on the other side of the room.

"_Fuck_!" he hissed angrily. "Hyne damn it. I hate this."

Selphie stopped rocking and sat up straight.

"I just… … dammit." Irvine heaved a sigh and crossed his arms, leaning up against the wall. "I feel so helpless, you know?"

Selphie nodded, her lips creased in a frown. "Yeah," she said simply.

"Cid's dead. And Rinoa's out there on her own, doing Hyne-knows-what with her powers. And what are we doing? _Nothing_."

Selphie kept nodding.

"…. I… lost her…" 

The voice didn't belong to Irvine.

Both heads in the room turned to regard Squall, whose eyes had fluttered open and was attempting to sit up. "I couldn't … save her." He grunted as he swung his legs over the side of the cot and tried to stand. But he collapsed back onto it as a searing pain knifed across his chest.

"Squally!" Selphie perked up, and would have crushed him in a hug if not for his broken ribs.

"You did all you could," Irvine assured him, approaching the cot.

"Wasn't enough," Squall insisted, not yet fully conscious.

"Of course it was, Squally, I'm sure--"

Irvine held up a hand to silence Selphie. "What happened?"

Squall's head began to bob tiredly, but he shook it furiously to stay awake. "She tried to kill me."

Selphie gasped. "Go on," Irvine urged.

"I had been… pursuing her for hours," Squall began, slowly shaking his head from side to side. "I finally met up with her at the beach. And she started throwing everything she had at me. She used her powers to manipulate the tides… she tried to drown me… and then cast multiple Thundagas and nearly killed me." His voice began to quaver with emotion at the memory. The woman he loved, doing everything in her power to see him dead… "I ended up silencing her, stunning her… and running for my life."

At the conclusion of Squall's description, Dr. Kadowaki entered the room. "Ok, Mr. Leonheart, that's quite enough from you. Mr. Kinneas, Miss Tilmitt, please leave him. He needs rest."

Squall forcefully stood, taking care to favor his ribs this time. "Like hell I do."

Dr. Kadowaki was taken aback at Squall's display of assertiveness. "You're sleep-deprived and injured," she said curtly. She approached him and stood so she was staring straight up into his ice-blue eyes. "With all due respect, Mr. Leonheart, you need to recuperate. Now."

The gunblade specialist narrowed his eyes. "With all due respect, _doctor_, the woman I love is out in the world alone, confused, and dangerous. I need to help her as best I can. I simply can't sit here and rest on a good conscience. I refuse to." The doctor looked to the floor and heaved a sigh. Tense moments passed, all eyes in the room fixated on the woman, awaiting her reaction. 

She finally raised her head to meet Squall's eye… and smiled.

"You really care about her, don't you?"

Squall's silence was a sufficient answer.

"You've changed a lot, Mr. Leonheart," she said, reaching up and resting her hand on his shoulder. "Good luck." She turned, made eye contact with Selphie and Irvine, silently wishing them good fortune as well, before leaving the room.

"Ok team! What's the plan?" Selphie said, perhaps a little too cheerfully.

"Esthar," Squall replied quickly, gathering his clothes and dressing. "The only person that could possibly know how to contain this situation is Odine. The sooner we get to him the better."

"Sounds like a plan," Irvine agreed eagerly.

"Where are Zell and Quistis?" Squall asked, beginning to look around.

Selphie was quick to respond. "Zell's in the next room, but I'm not sure where Quistis went off to…"

~~~~

Quistis was seated in the cafeteria, nursing her cup of hazelnut coffee and trying not to let Seifer's tardiness irk her. They were to meet for breakfast at 8:30. She had looked forward to it all evening. She hoped that perhaps he felt the same.

But where was he?

She remained for another half an hour before she started to wonder if he had forgotten. But it wasn't like him to forget. He had more class than that.

Once she was certain that he wasn't going to show, she decided she'd head for the "secret area" at the training center. She always went there to center herself. Feel the coolness of the outdoors while being away from the rest of the student body at the same time. And the view was exquisite. She needed time to reflect, allow herself to reclaim her tenuous grip on reality. Relax.

The grats were out in full force, but she wasn't in the mood for battle. A few stocked Sleeps easily disposed of their threat. 

Suddenly from around the corner she heard the savage roar of a T-Rexuar. "So much for relaxing," Quistis grumbled to herself, gripping the handle of her whip. She stalked out from behind a downed tree, poised for a furious battle…

And her heart caught in her throat.

It wasn't so much that the beast was bearing down on another human being… Such an instance was quite common in Balamb Garden's training center, and every student had escaped a T-Rexuar encounter alive. And it wasn't even so much that this person's GF Orb was lying unjunctioned and cold on the ground beside him. 

What truly disturbed her was that his arms were open wide, inviting the beast to finish him off.

"Seifer, no!" she tried to scream, but no sound emerged from her lips. He seemed completely vulnerable there, standing beneath the monster's snapping jaws and sharp claws… They could easily rend him asunder without his GF's protection…..

Seifer was now aware of her presence. Their eyes met. He allowed himself a brief smile… Kissed his fingertips and pointed toward Quistis. 

And then the T-Rexuar attacked him.


	6. Perception, Reality

LEGACY

CHAPTER SIX

Quistis brandished her flail at the massive T-Rexuar, attempting futilely to dislodge the lump in her throat. "Seifer!" she tried to scream, but was drowned out by the beast's unearthly roar. She closed her eyes and made contact with her GF. _("Siren, junction **sleep** to Status Attack,")_ she commanded mentally. _("And do it quickly.")_

Siren complied; wordlessly, Quistis noted. Mere seconds later a surge of energy passed through her fingertips and into the whip that she had so tightly in her grasp. From its hilt to its tip, the weapon became engulfed in an ominous yellow hue.

She snarled, and lunged herself at the T-Rexuar, trying furiously to distract it from Seifer's prone, bleeding form. "Over here!" she shouted, hurling her flail against the monster's tough flesh. With this it whipped its head around, enraged, eyes widening and focusing on its new prey. _That's right, follow me, _she urged quietly, beginning to quickly back up. She whipped the creature again, drew forth another roar. 

In one motion it leaned forward and clamped its two jaws together, mere inches from Quistis' nose. She backed away, tried whipping it again. And again. She searched desperately in the monster's features for any sort of tiredness or fatigue, any sign that her Sleep-junctioned weapon was proving effective.

It was still enraged.

__

("Siren, how many Sleeps do I have stocked?") Her telepathic words were filled with urgency.

The T-Rexuar lunged at her, this time determined to swallow her whole. "Float!" she commanded at the last second, and easily rose above the predator beast, now writhing below her in rage and hunger.

__

Your weapon has a ten percent chance of inducing Sleep, Siren replied quickly.

"Damn," she breathed, mentally berating herself for her lack of preparedness as she landed in front of it again. She narrowed her eyes, then ran straight at the monster, ducking and sliding at the last second. Her Haste-augmented motion seemed a blur, even to the T-Rexuar, and put her a mere ten feet away from Seifer.

The T-Rexuar seemed stunned, confused. Where had she gone?

Quistis used these few seconds to her advantage. Pushing a few sweaty strands of silk-blonde hair from her eyes, she knelt down beside the fallen gunblade specialist, feeling for his pulse, trying to ignore all the blood. Blood. Oh Hyne there was so much blood…

But there it was, the steady pulsing of his artery against her fingertip. Seifer Almasy was still tenuously holding onto life, and Quistis was not about to let him fall.

__

Hyne bless Cid, she thought, reaching for the her communicator-- one of the many that he had supplied to the Six and other prominent faculty members of Garden following the Ultimecia Affair. They were meant to be used only in cases of life and death, of dire emergencies. Cases like this. Her fingers trembled as she struggled to recall Irvine's student ID number. Was it… 43-36… or 43-26? 43-36 or 43-26? She vaguely remembered Irvine giving a whole spiel about his ID number. _"It all adds up…"_ he'd say. 

There. 43-26. She did the math in her head, and smiled at his twisted sense of humor.

The T-Rexuar whirled around, in desperation, hunger… and unfettered rage. It's tail connected painfully with her back, sending her flying into a nearby tree and smashing her delicate communicator against an adjacent boulder. She grimly took note of its shattered components out of the corner of her eye, before leaping to the side to avoid another attack.

The whip connected again. The monster wasn't fazed.

Again. It clawed blindly at her. She grit her teeth, gripped the whip as tightly as she possibly could. Again…

It stopped in its tracks, shook its massive head. Its eyes rolled back into its head, and its knees went limp. The overwhelmingly large T-Rexuar monster slowly crashed to the training center's floor, which rumbled in protest.

Quistis wasted no time. Blood flowed freely from Seifer's gaping chest wound. She needed something to stop the bleeding, she needed to call for help... Help. But the infirmary was on the other side of the Garden, and her communicator was in pieces beside that boulder…

A thought dawned on her. She threw herself to the floor beside Seifer's still form, began blindly pawing at his blood-soaked trench-coat. And there it was. Of course Seifer had been issued a communicator of his own. She opened it up, punching in Irvine's Student I.D. on the blood-slick keypad, and praying that he had his communicator on. It was only a few moments before a weary-sounding male voice responded. "Yeah?" 

Quistis nearly screamed into the contraption. "Send medical aid to the Training Center, North _immediately_!" she ordered. "There is… there is a student here with a near-fatal wound…"

Irvine's eyes widened. "_Another_ victim?"

Quistis swallowed a lump in her throat and shook her head vigorously, her eyes growing moist. "Don't ask questions. Quistis out." After turning it off, she snarled and threw it into the nearby clearing. Her knees gave way and she collapsed to the earthy floor, her head in hands, beside Seifer.

Why had he done that? Invited the T-Rexuar to kill him? What could possess him to seek death as he had? Unless…Was he…? Quistis felt a shiver run down her spine as the possibility impacted her like a ton of bricks. Was Seifer still tainted by Ultimecia's spell?

Was Seifer Cid's killer?

~~~~~~

The infirmary had always been one of the more pleasant locales of the Garden. Dr. Kadowaki's friendly- motherly treatment, and it's easy, quiet atmosphere were always welcome to Garden's students. The key word here was "relax". It was a place where anyone could go to rest, recuperate, and recover.

Today it was cold, sterile, and unfriendly, and Squall wanted to get out of it.

But Seifer was beginning to show signs of consciousness after 4 hours of inactivity, and Squall had a few questions for him. Quistis sat in a nearby seat, staring off into space and wringing her hands uncomfortably. Selphie and Irvine were seated off to the side, Selphie laying with her eyes closed against Irvine's shoulder. Seifer's signs of life may have gone unnoticed, if Squall had not been staring critically at the injured teenager's face. "Seifer." It was more to alert the others than provoke any sort of response from him.

Seifer's lips formed a weak grin. "… Puberty boy," he managed stiffly, his muscles moving with as much resistance as an old man's. 

Quistis had stopped wringing her hands and looked up. Squall scowled and stepped toward Seifer, the slow clomping of his boots the only audible sound in the room. "How are you feeling?"

Another weak grin. "I feel _absolutely nothing_," he joked.

Quistis jumped in. "Yes, the painkillers have a tendency to--" She slapped a hand over her mouth when Squall gave her a grave look, and then turned back to regard Mr. Almasy.

No one stirred for a few tense moments. "What's up, Seifer?" Squall said finally, though he lacked any sort of camaraderie, and everyone in the room could feel it. "What were you just doing?" Blank expression. "In the training center."

Dr. Kadowaki quietly entered the room, closing the door shut behind her without a sound. Quistis stepped forward, her arms crossed nervously. Seifer offered no response.

Squall continued. "Quistis says you were just _standing _there in front of the T-Rexuar, like you wanted it to … well… kill you. Why?"

Seifer's eyes traveled to the ceiling as he began to take slow, deep breaths. Still no response.

Dr. Kadowaki stepped up so she was right beside Squall, and the two were bearing down on him. Squall tried for a more direct approach. "Why'd you try to kill yourself, Seifer?"

Seifer's eyes closed, small drops of sweat suddenly apparent on his face. "Seifer?" Squall felt all hopes of this matter being resolved shatter. Perhaps Seifer was Cid's murderer… perhaps Seifer was the perpetrator all along. But whatever the hell was happening, it was obviously bigger than themselves.

__

*flash*

****

"Time… it shall not wait."

*flash*

****

"He told me, 'Death is only the beginning'… Life is infinite. And death, death is only the beginning to an eternity of life."

*flash*

****

"Kurse all SeeDs… Swarming like lokusts akross generations…"

*flash*

"I…I'll kill you all…" Rinoa was shouting to everyone assembled in the lobby.

*flash*

"Seifer." Squall's voice was trembling now. "Seifer, why'd you do it?"

Seifer's head began twitching slightly, his eyelids still shut.

"Seifer… Seifer, why'd you try to kill yourself? Why'd you try to kill yourself Seifer?" Dr. Kadowaki put a placating hand on Squall's shoulder, just as Quistis stepped forward to shush him. Squall took a deep breath and tried to let himself relax, unclenching his fists, breathing normally…

Seifer's eyes suddenly fluttered open, to everyone's surprise. Squall instantly went on the offensive. "Why'd you do it Seifer."

Seifer said nothing for a few moments, simply letting his eyes take in all the people present. Squall… Dr. Kadowaki… Quistis… Selphie… Irvine…

"You're all going to die," he finally said.

The temperature of the room seemed to plummet, as Squall felt a shiver race down his spine. "Seifer stop being stupid," he said, shaking his head and beginning to breathe heavily again.

"You all hold a very special place in my heart…"

Quistis gave a little gasp.

"I'm going to kill you all." His words came out toneless, matter-of-fact. As if it was only a matter of time.

Irvine and Selphie were alert now, a look of outright shock dashed across their features. Dr. Kadowaki reached for a sedative, but Quistis grabbed the older woman's hands and stepped past her. "Why are you saying this, Seifer? We're your family… we've taken care of you, these past few months, when no one else has…" Quistis turned her head and met Squall's urgent gaze. His eyes were wide, and he was shaking his head, gesticulating for her to stop. She narrowed her eyes and averted them, returning Seifer to her attention. "You know we'd never do anything to hurt you." Reaching over, she tenderly placed her hand over his own and gave it a quick squeeze. "…We love you." The words were bold, and possibly not entirely true for everyone assembled in the room. But as his eyes grew unfocused and sad, and his intensity faltered, it almost seemed as though her words were beginning to penetrate…

Almost.

In one fluid motion he batted her hand away and grabbed her wrist, beginning to squeeze. She gave a startled yelp in protest. "I _know_," he responded, his face contorted in… fear? Anger? Revulsion? A twisted amalgamation of the three? "And I love _you_." His grip tightened. "Don't you see? That's why I have to kill you."

Dr. Kadowaki looked quickly at Squall, who nodded affirmatively. The doctor prepared a syringe and reached for Seifer's arm--

With her free hand Quistis halted Dr. Kadowaki once again. "No, I don't see, Seifer! I don't understand! None of us do! _Why _are you trying to kill us? Why did you kill Cid?"

Seifer's eyes widened, his head beginning to twitch even more intensely. "I… I didn't kill him. _She_ did!"

Squall's fists clenched. "Who did?"

"Was it Rinoa? Did Rinoa kill Cid?" Quistis would not give up.

His head's violent twitching began spreading to his entire body, Quistis' wrist still locked in his death grip. He tried to form words, but his trembling lips would not allow him to. Finally he turned his head completely to the side, his eyes staring intently ahead… straight out the door that enjoined his room with the main office. Was he trying to tell her something?

"What are you trying to say Seifer? Did Rinoa kill Cid? _What_ are you looking at, Seifer?"

"Miss Trepe, he's going off the charts, I have to--" 

"Seifer what are you _looking_ at?!"

Dr. Kadowaki forced her way past the former SeeD instructor and injected Seifer with the sedative.

Everything stopped.

Seifer's grip on her wrist gradually loosened until it fell away.

No one said anything. The infirmary suddenly felt like a tomb.

Irvine was the one to break the silence. "So are we going to see Odine or what?"

It seemed like the most appropriate thing to say at the time. After all, what could be said? This entire situation was beyond reason and comprehension. There were too many factors, too many possibilities- and none of them were favorable. One thing was certain; they needed help. And the only person who could help them in this situation was Dr. Odine, of Esthar.

Squall glanced at his watch. "If we travel via _Ragnarok_ we should arrive by 7:30 or 8… that would give us some time to snoop around and visit the good doctor."

Selphie beamed. "Yeah! And maybe he'll know what to do!" No one seemed to care that she was yet again stating the obvious, as there were far more important matters at hand.

Quistis held her hands up. "I'd… rather stay here with Seifer. He needs someone who cares and…" She trailed off, biting her lip.

Squall considered this for a few moments, then made firm eye contact with her. "Be careful."

The former instructor smiled slightly, wrapping her arms around his waist and kissing him on the cheek. "You too. Bring Rinoa back safe and sound."

"What about Zell?" Selphie piped up. 

"Uhh I believe he's resting up in his dorm. Just let him be, he needs to recover…"

Squall nodded. "Maybe we can get Nida to fly us..." The trio made their last minute preparations, and they were off.

Quistis remained behind in the infirmary for another hour or so. After awhile it seemed fruitless; nothing was happening, and there were better, more productive things she could be doing.

She left his room behind, and turned around, realizing that his eyes were still staring straight out the door. _Now that's a chilling sight._ She turned around and realized that Matron's room was right across from his. The poor woman would have a regular heart attack if she awoke to Seifer's haunting, staring eyes. Quietly she closed the door to Seifer's room, and exited the infirmary…

~~~~

On her way to the library, Quistis nearly collided with Zell. "Oh, hi instructor," he said sheepishly.

Quistis couldn't help but smile. Zell and Seifer were the only two people that still called her "instructor", and she was pretty sure she liked it. "Zell." She nodded. "How are you holding up?" 

He nodded weakly in response, and Quistis suddenly realized that he had no clue what had happened to Seifer. As gently as possible she filled him in, though she took care to leave out his uncharacteristic outburst. Zell scratched the back of his head, obviously upset at the news. "Well I was just heading to the infirmary to check on Matron again, maybe I'll stop by his room too."

Quistis smiled, reluctant to follow him back. She needed distance from this whole situation right now; some relaxing music, a good book… sleep. The thought of Seifer's blank stare alone sent shivers rocketing down her spine. "Don't spend too much time there. They need space too." She gave him another hug before the two continued on their way.

No matter how desperately she tried, she could not rid the image of Seifer staring across the hallway from her mind. It lingered, like a parasite, and there was nothing she could do to squash it-- all the while she was trying to simply relax. Why wouldn't her mind just let her forget about it? Was there something she was supposed to--?

Suddenly, a horrible realization occurred to her.

__

*flash*

****

"I didn't kill her. She _did!"_

"Who did?"

"Was it Rinoa? Did Rinoa kill Cid?"

Seifer turned to stare out the door, his eyes focused… across the hallway. But across the hallway was--

*flash*

****

The poor woman would have a heart attack if she awoke to Seifer's haunting, staring eyes…

*flash*

"Oh my God," Quistis said.

~~~~

Seeing Seifer had been disturbing to Zell, especially after the teen's complete one-eighty the other day. He had changed--for the better! What had happened to provoke him to… try and kill himself? Something wasn't clicking there, and it angered Zell beyond comprehension that he could do nothing to stop it.

As he was leaving he poked his head into Matron's room, expecting to see her peacefully sleeping form, tucked comfortably beneath the sheets…but that's not what he saw.

Zell nearly fainted. Edea Kramer was sitting up, legs draped over the edge of the cot, stretching her arms. "M-Matron!" Zell cried, growing teary-eyed with emotion. "You're ok!" She wasn't merely seated upright… _Life_ had returned to her. Her skin was a solid flesh color, her features were customarily warm, her eyes open wide and friendly.

Edea stood, supporting herself against the wall. Zell rushed to her side and crushed her in an embrace, crying tears of joy for her well-being, tears of sadness for her husband's loss, and tears of the years lost between them… Tears from the years over a decade ago, when she had cared for him as a mother would care for her child. He buried his head in her long, onyx-colored hair just as he had done when he was four, and the world had been oh so much simpler…

She began to whisper something intently, but Zell couldn't hear her. So she began to whisper it louder. "ka….uhg… me…"

"What?" Zell could not comprehend.

The words were barely decipherable as they emerged from her lips, but Zell was able to hear their intention. "…Kill … me… Zell. Kill me."

His eyes widened in alarm. "No, Matron, I… I… don't understand…."

She tightened her embrace, and Zell could feel one of her hands start to become cold against his back. "Kill me, Zell." Her words now held far more urgency than they had seconds ago. "You won't have another chance… Kill me…"

But Zell was not given the chance to reply.

Once the ice-strike had become firmly embedded in Zell's back, there was not much he could do but stand in shock. A wave of disbelief and anger crashed over his head, as he watched the woman he called Matron melt her deadly weapon, lay down on her cot, and sink back into her coma.

He clutched at his chest… was overcome with the sheer amount of blood that stained his hands… and then blacked out entirely.

~~~

A/N: Now how's THAT for a cliffhanger?

NEXT- The truth revealed! (promise!)


End file.
